1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging lens and an imaging lens apparatus, and more particularly to an imaging lens used for surveillance cameras, portable terminal cameras, in-vehicle cameras and the like including imaging devices such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) and a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor), and an imaging apparatus including this imaging lens.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, devices that have been miniaturized greatly and have an increased number of pixels are known as imaging devices such as CCD's and CMOS's. Along with this, the main body of imaging instruments including these imaging devices has also been miniaturized, and imaging lenses to be mounted on the devices, which are miniaturized and improved to have favorable optical performance, have been applied. As imaging instruments for use as surveillance cameras, in-vehicle cameras and the like, those equipped with lenses, which have a wide angle of view, and yet which are compact and capable of high performance, are known.
For example, the imaging lenses as disclosed in the following Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1 (1989)-134324, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7 (1995)-253542, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-356265, and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-191019 are known as imaging lenses having comparatively small numbers of lenses in the technical field described above.